THE BEACHES ARE CLOSED

As depicted in the painting pictured above, nothing speaks more of summer than the warm sands of beaches.*  They serve vital recreational and social purposes, such as for swimming, picnicing and plain sunburning.

However, beaches also serve a less romantic purpose.  They provide essential barriers between advancing waves and currents of water and vulnerable adjoining land so as to mitigate erosion.

Unfortunately, beaches have been closing--in effect disappearing-- in two ways.  First, this year several local governments--Chicago, for example-- have prohibited beachgoers as an assumed measure to limit the spread of Covid-19.  The sands have remained naked of footprints.

Second, rising water levels such as in the case of Lake Michigan, coupled with more intense storm driven winds, have caused sand to migrate from beaches.  As a result of diminishment of beaches as barriers to wave and current water action, adjoining bluffs have been eroding and houses have been tumbling into water.

Much attention has been given to protection of surface water sources of water supply.  Perhaps, more attention may be required to the protection and restoration of beaches adjacent to the surface waters.  As beaches diminish, so may their purposes.

____________________________________________________________________________________

*Painting by George Barrel (1923-2003), Oil, 24"x36", Available for purchase, $550, at Odana Antique Center, Booth 33, Madison, WI

© Daniel J. Kucera 2020                                                                                                 

CAMBRIAN CREATURES EXPLODED ACR0SS THE WORLD

For much of known life on Earth, that life was simple--organisms such as bacteria, algae and fungi occupied the pre-Cambrian time. However, beginning about 541 million years ago, at the start of the Cambrian period, things dramatically changed. Life suddenly diversified and multiplied into complex forms, with such new features as brain, eyes, mouth, digestive system, outer skin and body segments. This 25 million year period commonly is called the Cambrian explosion, for obvious reasons.

Fossil evidence of the Cambrian explosion was discovered in 1909 in the Burgess shale of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Now, a recent article reports that another site of Cambrian explosion fossils has been discovered in China, called Qingjiang.* This new location is said to show many taxa not seen before as well some in common with the first site.

The article may be of interest for what it did not address. For example, it now appears that the Cambrian explosion took place at about the same time in places thousands of miles distant from each other--Canada and China. While the two sites do not share fully identical fossil creatures, differences in ancient marine environments may explain differences in creatures found. The point is they share the explosion of complex life-forms.

The article also did not offer why the Cambrian explosion occurred; that is, why pre-Cambrian simple celled organisms suddenly became complex with all sorts of sizes and shapes. Was that the work of "intelligent design?" This question, of course, always seems to be the elephant in the room that no one admits to seeing. Further, if it is the hand of intelligent design, the unspoken, ultimate question is who is the intelligent designer?

_____________________________________________

*Gramling,"Fossils Expand Variety of Early
Life," Science News, April 27, 2019, p.14

© 2019 Daniel J. Kucera

THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE

I am a pack rat. I tend to save anything I have received, purchased or touched. Recently, with great trauma, I have begun a purge of overflowing boxes and piles--a sort of Spring cleaning, if you will. To no surprise, the process is slow, as papers must are examined with great care.

In an obscure box, I uncovered an undated, mimeographed program for a monthly meeting of my then hometown Cub Scout pack. I am guessing it was from the early 1950s. One page of the program contains an essay written by the Cubmaster providing the theme for the next month's meeting, which would be in November. The essay was titled "Faith Of His Fathers". An excerpt is as follows:

"The main idea behind the theme is to make the Cubs realize how fortunate they are in being Americans. They should be thankful that they are living in a free country where the human rights of man are honored and respected.

"They should appreciate that our present way of life was brought about by that heroic band of people, the Pilgrims, who had the courage and fortitude to leave Europe and start their lives over again in a new land. One in which they could live and worship as they pleased. A land built upon Faith in God, man and human nature. This was the start of the 'American Way of Life'.

"... If the Pilgrims were willing to give up their homes, fight and even die for the privilege of living and worshiping as they pleased, the least we can do is to give thanks that we are Americans and have the American way of life."

In 2019, is the American Way of Life still the same as it was seventy years ago? Are the "human rights of man still honored and respected"? Do we still have "Faith in God, man and human nature"? When one reads and listens to media, drives on roads or walks in cities, what should we make of the anger, disrespect, self-interest and self-aggrandizement that we often experience?

Maybe there is a good reason why I saved this piece of paper, and why I will continue to save it. It is reminder. It may be beneficial to discard surplus paper, but it would be disastrous to discard the real American Way of Life.


© Daniel J. Kucera 2019

SIMPLER TIMES

We were driving on a vacation in one of the western U.S. states, enjoying stunning scenery, great accommodations and delicious food. Some of the small towns through which we passed appeared to be frozen in a prior time--and in a good way. For some-the 1950s perhaps.

For example, outside a coffee break cafe,in a picture perfect how-the-American west-should look kind of town, I grabbed a local newspaper--one of those bulging with grocery and other advertising inserts, and peppered with chatty mom and pop stories and detailed high school football scores. Front page advertised a Garlic Festival I think. It had a page called "police blotter." You can tell a lot about a town simply by reading its police blotter. I was intrigued by the following excerpts:


Tuesday,9:30am A resident reported seeing someone trying to break into a vehicle. Turns out the person was just locked out of their own car.

Tuesday,12:02pm A man reported that the person he hired to rebuild the roof of his house called it quits halfway through the project.

Tuesday,3:30pm Transients were camping down by the river.

Sunday,7:23 am A couple's marriage of just 48 hours went south when the groom apparently drove off with the couple's U-Haul full of belongings never to be seen again.

Sunday,7:45 am A man in a red hat was walking in the middle of the road.

Sunday,11:52 am A man called 911 because his grandson was "tipping things over."

Sunday,1:10 A man was wandering around his neighborhood screaming, "Everyone can burn in hell". It was clear he was not having a great Sunday.

Sunday,7:08 pm A man reported that someone stole his long board and he knows who did it. Soon after he called back to report that he had found his long board. Apparently he just misplaced it.

Sunday,7:58 am A woman who doesn't know much about technology" accidentally called 911.

Monday, 5:28 am A man called to report that his neighbor's dog had been barking for more than a week. He thinks the neighbor has gone on vacation.


There was something appealing about this police blotter. There was no mention of the now common urban stresses such as serious crimes, riots, protests and general displays of anger--things commonly encountered in print, television, radio and internet these days. Small towns have plenty of stresses-- alcohol and drug abuse, domestic problems and often in the mining west, high unemployment. But this blotter had none of that. I feel really bad for the woman who's husband left. I wonder if he was the same guy wearing the red hat.


© Daniel J. Kucera 2018

SHOULD MUSHROOM HUNTING BE REGULATED?

Recently, I was shocked to read in a newspaper article that no license is required in Illinois for mushroom collecting. Governmental regulation seems to permeate all aspects of human activity , down to the smallest details. Therefore, how could government miss the opportunity to charge a licensing fee, particularly given that debt burdened budgets cry for revenue?

How could a wild mushroom hunting licensing scheme work? Probably, there would be a written test based upon a government produced book such as "Rules of the Fungus Road." In the test, a license applicant would have to identify types of mushrooms, whether edible or not, proper manner of cooking, and best venues for finding particular species. Most important, an applicant would have to explain how to hunt for mushrooms on private land without getting caught.

Presumably, an applicant also would have to pass a vision test and an in the forest test. Under supervision of an experienced mushroom hunter official, the applicant would have to identify an actual mushroom in the woods and demonstrate proper removal technique from the ground or a stump. Of course, a license would be subject to annual renewal. The daily limit on number of mushrooms taken would be strictly enforced.

Mushroom hunting on private land would require landowner consent. Here is another opportunity for governmental regulation and revenue. Landowners would be required to obtain permits to allow mushroom hunting on their land. If a landowner charged a fee for hunting, a sales tax also would be collected.

Since mushroom hunters may seek to cross state lines to forage, federal governmental regulation also may be necessary. Congress could authorize a Wild Mushroom Protection Agency ("WMPA") to adopt and enforce permits and rules for such interstate toad stool prospecting.

Simply stated, regulation of mushrooming--like all governmental regulation--would mushroom.


© 2018 Daniel J. Kucera

DID THEY COME FROM OUTER SPACE?

Scientists now are zeroing in on the origin of sweet potatoes. For many centuries, sweet potatoes have been cultivated in Central and South America.

However, in the 1700s, explorers of the South Pacific from Europe, such as Captain Cook, were surprised to find that sweet potatoes also were grown in Polynesia for centuries. Indeed, Captain Cook brought a sample Polynesian sweet potato home with him in 1769. Indeed, one might speculate whether Captain Bligh's HMS Bounty actually could have been carrying a load of sweet potatoes from Tahiti, mis-named as breadfruit. Whatever, Mr. Christian's mutiny makes the question moot.

For years, scientists thought that sailors from Polynesia sailed to South America and transported sweet potatoes back to their homelands. I suppose, the sweet potatoes became known as "sea potatoes."

However, in our technology-driven world, scientists now have analyzed the DNA of sweet potato specimens, including the well-preserved 250 year old one from Captain Cook's 1769 voyage.* They have concluded that the Polynesian sweet potato has a different genetic make-up compared to the South American version, casting doubt on the Polynesian sailor spud story.

However, despite this advancement in science, disagreement still persists as to the origin of Polynesian sweet potatoes. For example, one scientist asserts that Captain Cook's single ancient sweet potato does not offer sufficient data to reject the sailor explanation. And, another scientist points out that the Polynesian word for sweet potato is similar to the South American word.*

As an aside, sweet potatoes were introduced in China in the late 1500s. Today, in addition to just about everything else, China produces two-thirds of the world's sweet potatoes.

No doubt, the origin of Polynesian sweet potatoes will continue to be studied and debated by scientists, along with other pressing issues such as alleged climate change. Perhaps, we are looking for sweet potatoes in all the wrong places. After all, only God can make a sweet potato.

___________________________________________

*Garisto,"Polynesian Sailings to America
Doubted", Science News, April 28 and
May 12, 2018, p.18

© Daniel J. Kucera 2018

THANKSGIVING: WHO SHOULD WE THANK?

Thanksgiving Day is more than falling asleep before a television set blaring boring, non-competitive football games, after over-eating
turkey and fixings. Rather, as the name implies, it is a day designated to give thanks. For what, and to whom, are we to give thanks?

Recently, I found myself shuffling through foaming accumulations on a bookshelf. The piles of stuff cried for attention. In them, I excavated a letter that my cousin wrote on December 12, 1944 to my parents. He was 20 years old and a soldier in Patton's "blood and guts" Third Army. He was a forward spotter for artillery in the Battle of the Bulge, which was characterized by hard fighting and hard weather.

My cousin wrote, in part: "Over here we had quite a nice Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey sure tasted good and also the chocolate cake we had. That sure is a promise to spend next Thanksgiving with you, if it is at all possible. Will be sure to have Aunt Mil make some good dumplings though! That's one thing I haven't had over here...at times it's not peaches and cream."

Obviously, and to be expected, his thoughts and unexpressed thankfulness were on the homefront. More broadly, it has been said that Bing Crosby's White Christmas was the most popular song with U.S. troops in World War II because it reminded them so much of home and what they were fighting for.

So, who should we thank on Thanksgiving Day? Should we thank the presidents on Mt. Rushmore who stood and still stand for America?
Should we thank all those in our military who stood for, and still stand for, America? Should we thank all the farmers and ranchers who have produced all the food that nourishes us every day? Should we thank all who have prepared, cooked and served that food? Should we thank all of our family and all of our friends?

All of the above-all that we ever have received, all that we now have and all that we will ever receive-comes from one person. Thank God!


© Daniel J. Kucera 2017

`ANTIQUES HAVE THEIR PRIVILEGES

Probably the most common and most ongoing question among antiques dealers is "how do we induce more people, particularly younger ones, to purchase more antiques for their homes?" Of course, there is nothing new about this question. It has been asked and unanswered for decades since at least the 1970s. It has become a dealer's lament.

Over the years, many sages have offered a variety of reasons why people should buy antiques: for investment; for trendy design; for quality of wood, metal or workmanship; for historic value or interest; and for culture are some of the reasons. Sometimes one or more of these reasons will stimulate a sale or two, but not necessarily in the quantity that will sustain a dealer's business or interest.

By accident recently, I uncovered in my clutter a book published in 1889--itself an antique--that may offer some insight to answering this question.* The author's premise is : "man is an aesthetic being." Elaborating, man has an implicit duty to adorn and beautify his house. The author states: "The best characters and the noblest men come from the modest homes which taste, refinement, and labor have adorned and beautified."

The author adds: "But it is not alone in nature that beauty may minister to our souls...art may serve this purpose. Nature hangs no landscapes on our parlor walls, nor does she set bouquets in our windows....The beauty of art is not alone for the mansion of wealth. Artistic and tasteful adornments are the products of ingenuity and not of wealth."

Art, of course, is not limited to paintings. An antique by its design, or by its age and ancestry, or even by its placement within a home by itself or in conjunction with other antiques can be art.

So, there you have it. Perhaps the most important reason to buy antiques is to adorn and beautify one's home, so as to "minister to our souls."

______________________________________

* Sargent, "Our Home", King, Richardson
& Co., 1889, pp. 287-290.

© Daniel J. Kucera 2017

LITTLE WATER COLLECTORS

That water is essential for human life and activity is obvious. Perhaps less obvious is the need for water by other creatures, including even the smallest.

For example, one may recall seeing a gathering of butterflies at the edges of mud puddles. Typically, they may include small "blues", sulfurs, white cabbage and even swallowtails. Interestingly, butterflies do not drink water because they have to have water. They seek water for its mineral content--thus, the minerals in muddy water. After drinking, they expel the water and keep the minerals, which are essential for their lives. In a miniature way, these butterflies are water treatment facilities.

Honeybees offer a more complex example, because they actually collect water and haul it back to their hives. Foragers seek water from many different sources, including mud puddles, as well as edges of ponds, rain drops on leaves and bird baths. Honeybees use collected water in several ways. Water is an essential ingredient for making food for larvae. The recipe includes pollen, nectar and water ingested by bees and internally processed for the food for brood.

Water is also used for cooling within the hive. Think of the device car owners in the 1950s would hang on the outside of a windows of their cars, which cooled the interior by wind blowing through and evaporating water in the device. Bees spread water within the hive and evaporate it by fanning their wings to produce cooling. Bees also use water to make liquid again stored honey that may have crystalized. Again, in a miniature way, honeybees are water distribution systems.

That bees frequently are seen collecting water at bird baths suggests that they do not necessarily need "clean" water. Regardless, one should be encouraged to maintain bird baths relatively clean. However,water gathered by bees from cropland may become tainted with pesticides, which could become an adverse contributor to colony health.

Interestingly, while bees collect water, they do not like to get their feet wet and dislike rain. As new beekeepers soon learn, one should avoid opening a hive on a rainy day, as bees can be particularly unhappy in wet weather. Maybe, in that respect, bees and humans share a similar attitude. ©Daniel J. Kucera 2017

SEND IN THE DRONES?

For several years, media have reported on the collapse of honey bee colonies. Apparent thriving colonies suddenly die or disappear from their hives. Numerous possible causes for such growing loss of bees have been advanced, such as disease, mites, pesticides, herbicides harsh weather, etc. However, no primary cause has been identified for what commonly has been referred to as colony collapse disorder. Such losses of colonies are of serious concern, of course, because honey bees are primary pollinators of much of our food supply, affecting everything ranging from orchards to back yard garden plots.

In addition, bee losses are stressing apiaries which produce new colonies for beekeepers who are in the business of furnishing bees for pollination of crops across the country. Often, major suppliers of new colonies are sold out in the the Fall for deliveries the following year, unable to keep up with the demand from beekeepers who have sustained losses.

Research into the cause of colony collapse is ongoing. Meanwhile, the public have embraced an effort to repopulate honey bees by establishing new hives in urban areas such as the White House and rooftops of city high-rises as well as in back yards.

Recently, I read a published report which discussed an effort by a scientist in Japan to develop an artificial pollinator that could fly on to a blossom, grab some pollen and fly to another flower--an artificial honey bee, if you will. He fitted a small drone with horse hair and a gel to mimic the fuzz on a bee. His drone was able to pollinate lilies by collecting pollen from one flower and dropping off some of it at another flower. According to the report, he believes that a fleet of drones , guided by GPS and artificial intelligence, could pollinate along with bees.

Interestingly, honey bees already have drones. Drones are the male bees. They do not work, gather no pollen or nectar, make no honey, and do not even feed themselves. Their only function is to mate with a new queen bee should the need arise.

The use of artificial pollinators, even if their development and use could be perfected on a mass scale, could be problematic. Honey bees do not collect pollen to be charitable. They collect pollen because it is essential as a food ingredient for brood production. In a way, it is their bread. If artificial pollinators were able to compete with natural pollinators for pollen on any large scale, honey bee colonies may well experience still another limiting factor on their continued success and existence.

Send in the drones?

VINTAGE EAU DE STINKBUG

With the onset of Autumn, it has been common to experience invasion of one's house by hordes of small orange beetles, knockoffs of red ladybugs. Last Fall, however, they were outnumbered by larger, more offensive stinkbugs--their name tells all you need to know about them. This Spring, these critters have been awakening from hibernation to populate walls, floors, furniture and kitchen counters. It may be the latest environmental issue: global swarming!

Now, a published report reveals that stinkbugs also have become a pest for wine producers.* It seems that stinkbugs just love wine grapes. When these grapes are harvested, the bugs travel with the grapes into the fermentation tanks. The problem is that the bugs then release their stink and spoil the taste of the resulting wine.

How many stinkbugs does it take to spoil wine? A rule of tongue seems to be that more than 3 bugs per grape cluster will ruin wine taste. Talk about job creation--counting stinkbugs!

Recently, I had a glass of some red wine from a bottle whose label described it as having an "earthy" flavor. Perhaps, one should read the label before drinking, rather than after. I have switched now to white wine, whose taste is said to be less sensitive to stinkbugs. Regardless, white wine is more transparent in a glass. But, you know, all of this concern bugs me so that I may just drink water.

_____________________________________________________

*Eaton, "Red Wine Has Stinkbug Threshold", Science
News, March 18, 2017, p.5

© Daniel J. Kucera 2017

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

At the beginning of a new year, it is customary to make personal resolutions for improvements in behavior over the following twelve months. For example, a person may resolve to lose weight, or to exercise more, or to get a new job, or to be more kind to an obnoxious relative or neighbor, or even to drink more water. It also is traditional that none of such resolutions ultimately will come true in actual changes in behavior.

Just what is a New Year's resolution? According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, it is defined as "a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year." No wonder such resolutions can be broken so easily. If a promise to oneself is not kept, who does one sue?

So, perhaps New Year's resolutions can be summarized as simply feel good statements of intentions having little chance of becoming reality. Oscar Wilde said: "Good Resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account." Mark Twain put it this way: "Now is the accepted time to make your regular good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."

I think I found one resolution that really makes sense for everyone. Luther Standing Bear, an Oglala Sioux chief, said of the Lakota:

"Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence to the speech-maker and his own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regard for the rule that, 'thought comes before speech.'"

Simply stated, resolve to "think before speaking." While it may be a challenge to make and keep this resolution, the resulting silence will speak words for a more peaceful world.

©Daniel J. Kucera 2016

BEARING AND BARING AT THE BAR

In our recent western states drive, we visited several towns dating to the 1880s. Each had a saloon of the same vintage begging to quench thirst--they were the sort of establishments where one could expect to encounter Doc Holliday coughing away at the far end of the bar, Wyatt Erp keeping the peace at the near end, and Marshall Dillon chattering with Miss Kitty in the middle.

Each saloon had an atmosphere that just screamed THE OLD WEST--you know, dark wood wall paneling accented by mounts of buffalo, deer, elk, antelope, moose and what not; dark wood beams hugging embossed tin ceiling tiles; a bar surface whose finish diappeared years ago; a back bar wall lined with a waterfall of half empty bottles and keynoted by the obligatory painting of a Victorian naked damsel.

We became like characters in an old western movie, it seemed. But, we quickly learned that something was unexpected and different. The stereotype image of a bar typically includes a male bartender who becomes a confidant of patrons, listening to them pouring out their problems and troubles to him, and occasionally offering advice in return.

In the saloons we visited, however, the complete reverse became apparent. Each had a female bartender who poured out her problems and troubles to us. As patrons, we became their confidants.

Collectively, these women appeared to have one problem in common: overwhelming personal anxieties. Their anxiety tended to be over such issues as job, financial security, family, self fulfillment, location, etc. None of the issues they cited were the national and international issues discussed in the media and by politicians, although their personal issues may have resulted in part from the more global concerns.

It was sobering to experience this small sample of anxieties on the local level. One wonders how pervasive are these personal issues and whether they in turn are adversely affecting resolution of national issues such as the economy, security, job growth and civil unrest. With all the political noise on the national level, one wonders what is happening below the surface. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin's words at the completion of the US Constitution, are we still looking at a rising sun?

BUGS OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS

A recent survey of urban and suburban houses in a North Carolina city found that homes in neighborhoods having higher average incomes had a greater variety of arthropods living in them as "house guests."* In case you have forgotten your high school science, arthropods include insects, spiders, crustaceans and other invertebrate critters with an exoskeleton, segmented body, and jointed appendages. A more scientific name for these things is "bugs."

The survey found that an average household had more than 100 bug species living in the house. However, there was no report of shrimp living in a basement. Among the more popular insect occupants, gall midge flies were found in 100% of homes, fungus gnats in 96% and cockroaches in 74%. Frankly, my vote for most popular would be for the spiders and their arachnid friends. It was reported that this was the first evidence of a link between wealth and greater diversity of bugs in houses. Apparently, climate change is not a factor.

As one might expect, there has been litigation over residential bugs. For example, there have been several cases involving bedbugs in hotel rooms, apartments and rental mattresses. There even is a case where love was lost when a tennis player fell stepping on a dead cicada.

An interesting case involved the purchase of a mobile home by a man and his fiancé who intended it to be their abode after their wedding. Upon their return from a honeymoon, they "found their trailer full of bugs 'hatched all over the trailer' and 'packed on the floor.'" Subsequently, "they observed bugs in the bedroom walls behind the paneling, in the insulation underneath the trailer, in the cabinets, the tub, on the curtains, and all over their home."

The couple hired an exterminator, who identified the bugs as "confused grain beetles." Several treatments did not solve the problem. The couple moved out of their home and sued the seller to get their money back. A witness for the seller stated that the bugs were "confused flour beetles", not "confused grain beetles", and that they could be exterminated successfully. Whatever, one wonders how the bugs would have been were they not confused.

The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's decision for the bugged couple, stating "there is really very little question but that a mobile home infested with beetles in the numbers described by plaintiff and his wife is unfit for use as a residence. Persons of ordinary sensibilities would not want to live under such conditions as were shown to have existed in this mobile home..."**

While wealth may foster residential bug diversity, too many bugs may eat away at wealth. Perhaps, it is the bugs one sees that are the problem. The bugs you do not see are not a problem, unless they bite you.

_____________________________________________________

*Milius,"Richer Homes Host More Kinds of Bugs,"
Science News, Sept.3, 2016, p.15

**Sauers v. Tibbs, 363 N.E.2d 444(Ill.App.)1977

A BONE OF CONTENTION

There may be more going on with your toes than you think.

According to a published report, scientists have analyzed a toe bone from a 50,000 year old Siberian Neandertal woman. They found that from 1.0 to 7.1 percent of her DNA is human DNA. They also discovered that she shares more "modern" human DNA than two European Neandertals previously studied. It is known that humans have some Neandertal DNA Interestingly, this toe finding is the first time human DNA has been discovered in Neandertal genes.*

The report noted that "exactly who the humans were who mated with the Siberian Neandertal's ancestors isn't clear." Indeed, one wonders what the attraction was for a human to pursue a Neandertal or vice versa. Perhaps eligible mates were scarce in the tundra. Or, perhaps with limited sun in winter, it may have been difficult to determine who was what. Or, simply one was looking for love in all the wrong places.

Another article states that Melanesians living near Papua New Guinea mated with both Neandertals and with relatives of Neandertals called Denisovans. Melanesians have been found to have from 1.0 to 4.0 percent of their DNA from Neandertals and from 1.9 to 3.4 percent from Denisovans. DNA from these sources cover genes involved in metabolism and immunity, but not brain development.**

There you have the hot and cold of human mating evolution--from the South Pacific to Siberia. Perhaps it is understandable why a human might want to bundle with a Neandertal in Siberia to keep warm. It may be less obvious why that reason would be true in the South Pacific. Maybe it is as the song suggests, she just could not wash that "man" right out of her hair.

______________________________________________

* Saey,"Humsn DNA Found In Neandertal Bone,"
Science News, March 19, 2016, p.6

** Bower,"Melanesians Carry Denisovan Genes,"
Science News, April 16, 2016, p.8

VISIONS

What is new eventually becomes old. However, what is old often becomes new. It is a all in how we choose to see things.

Last November, I wrote about cow chips or pies. In America, frontier people and Indians used cow chips to fuel heating and cooking fires. I suggested that such chips could be used in modern times as a solution for perceived climate change.*

Well, it turns out that in parts of India today, cow chip patties are prepared, harvested and burned for fuel, cooking and religious rituals. In fact, it is reported that cow chips are so popular that they are hot sellers online with retailers including Amazon and eBay.** While the patties long have been associated with rural life, the demand now appears to be from urban dwellers longing for the old days. People are said to find the smell of dung fires to be "pleasant." So, what may be old for rural life has become new for city life.

In the case of water, old is becoming new also. Orville and Wilbur Wright are the acknowledged inventors of the first successful airplane that actually flew. For years, their father had warned them of the dangers of contaminated water. Newspaper stories indicated that every case of typhoid was due to water. However, before their success, Orville became sick with typhoid from drinking water at the age of 25 in 1896. For several days, he had a fever of 105 and was delirious After nearly two months, Orville finally recovered.

Wilbur Wright was not as fortunate. After successful demonstrations of their airplane in both the United States and Europe, Wilbur died in 1912 from typhoid. He was only 45 years old, and it was only some four years after the first flight.***

Thankfully, chlorination and other disinfection protocols have alleviated concerns over typhoid, except in some less developed countries where safe water remains an issue even today. However, the elimination of typhoid in developed countries in modern times has not eliminated concerns over safe water even there. For example, in the United States recent examples of contamination of water supplies include cryptosporidium, chemical waste products, algae toxins and lead. These examples illustrate that the old issue of safe water can pop up again as new issues.

While science seems to focus on hypotheses over how Earth got its water or whether Earth is or is not warming, that focus may be shortsighted given the continued pressing need for safe and adequate water on Earth. Sometimes, as the photo above suggests, we can spend too much time gazing into the brightness of the distance instead of dealing with the darkness of what is on the table before us.

__________________________________________

* "A Solution For Climate Change",
November 22, 2015

**"Cow Dung Patties Sell Like Hotcakes
In India", Rapid City Journal,January 3,
2016,P.D2

***See McCullough, "The Wright Brothers",
(2015), P. 27,256

CELEBRATING NEW YEAR'S DAY

New Year's Day, January 1, is the strangest holiday. It is a holiday because our calendars say it is; and because most employees have this day off from work, except for employees of stores that remain open so that all employees who have the day off can have something to do.

New Year's Day also is strange because it is not a holiday that recognizes a religious, historic or patriotic event. But the strangest aspect of New Year's Day is that, unlike all other holidays, no one celebrates New Year's Day. Except for the Rose parade, some football games and reruns of the Twilight Zone, no one does anything on New Year's Day except eat too much.

The only celebrating that is going on is on New Year's Eve, the day before the holiday, and New Year's Eve is NOT a holiday.

So, why is New Year's Day a holiday, and why do people celebrate the day before, which is not a holiday. The truth is no one knows why we do this, except that humankind has always done it.

Of course, New Year's Day was not always January 1. In ancient times, the beginning of a year was determined by such events as the spring or autumn equinox or winter solstice. So, for example, in Egypt, about 2800 BC, the year started with the helical rising of Sirius, which coincided with the beginning of the Nile flooding.

New Year's was a time for some cultures to perform rituals to do away with the past and purify themselves for the coming year. Some extinguished fires they were using and started new ones. Celts were said to have built bonfires to send away evil spirits and to honor their sun god. In earlier times, Romans gave each other New Year's gifts of sacred tree branches. In later times, they gave gold covered nuts and coins depicting Janus, their god of gates, doors and beginnings. It must have been exciting to have received a gold nut.

So, it appears that the New Year's Day holiday and the New Year's Eve non-holiday are rooted in long standing pagan tradition. Since January was named after the Roman god Janus, who had two faces--one looking backward and one looking forward--perhaps there is some logic to the New Year's holiday: a time for looking backward and forward.

Along that line, it may be a time for reflecting on something every one experiences--aging. Scientists are zeroing in on "molecular mayhem" within cells of the brain for clues to the mysteries of growing old.* For example, breakdowns of proteins in the brain may be a significant cause of aging. Another factor may be the disorganization of DNA bundles. In the brain, stem cells have walls to keep out cellular junk. When these walls weaken, the junk can enter to hinder stem cell production. Another protective brain wall is the blood-brain barrier which protects the brain from toxins in the blood. If that wall weakens, brain cell can break down.

Of course, if one were to dwell on the aging process on New Year's Day, the holiday could be disquieting. Maybe that is why people today celebrate New Year's Eve--a day to party as if youth is eternal; and why New Year's Day is a holiday--a quiet day to recover aching bones and scrambled minds from all that celebrating. Yes, perhaps we all are like Janus at New Year's time--a bit two faced.

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* Rosen, "All Bodies Don't Act Their Age",
Science News, December 26, 2015, p. 20

MOUNT FUNGUSMORE--SHRINE OF DEGUSTATION?

Everyone knows that, after a good rain, mushrooms tend to pop up in yards. Thus, it should have been no surprise to me that today I stumbled upon the mountain of fungus pictured above.

At first, I thought it may be an alien being from outer space. Then, more realistically, I speculated that it was the heave of an owl that over-ate some squirrels. Close inspection, however, disclosed that it was a colony of fungus some two feet wide and a foot tall.

Being of Czech descent, mushrooms course through my blood. Called "houby", they are the fruit of the gods. The problem, however, is which gods, as some mushrooms can be quite deadly.

Unfortunately, all mushrooms look alike to me, so I buy them in a grocery store. However, my late aunt was a classic mushroom hunter/gatherer, with acute fungus radar. She had secret woodland hunting grounds and frequently was chased away by agitated farmers or their bulls. Her son did not fall from the toadstool, as he was in the same mold. His mushroom hunting, however, was in the lawns of unsuspecting homeowners.

I do not know whether my Mount Fungusmore is edible or not, but I have considered trying to save it for a parade float at the next annual Houby Festival held in a local town. Surely, it will be a high point.

One problem, however, is that mushrooms do not seem to have a long shelf life. In a 1946 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, the United States sued three 25 bags and two boxes of dried mushrooms, alleging that they were adulterated.* While the fungus could not speak for themselves, a claimant did and disputed that the mushrooms were adulterated. After a trial, the District Court ruled that the mushrooms were adulterated within the meaning of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and that the mushrooms "be condemned, forfeited, and destroyed."

The claimant appealed. But wait, "in the meantime, no stay of the court's order or decree having been entered, the Marshall destroyed the mushrooms." How they were destroyed was not mentioned.

The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal. "The continued existence of the mushrooms is essential to our right to proceed against the things themselves....The decree of the District Court goes against the mushrooms. The decree having been entered and executed, the proceeding is functus officio."

If one picks some mushrooms in the wild, and becomes ill from eating them, the only potential defendant likely is oneself. So, I have no intention to even touch Mount Fungusmore. I have decided to let nature take its course to condemn, forfeit and destroy: fungus functus officio.
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*United States v. 3 Unlabeled 25-pound bags
Dried Mushrooms,157 F.2d 722 (7th Cir.1946)

SWEET DREAMS

"You never oughta drink water when it ain't runnin'."

-----John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men


Whenever, we feel sluggish or drowsy, sometimes we reach for candy or other sweet for a sugar high and anticipated boost in alertness. However, according to a recent published report, our anticipation may be misplaced. It seems that a boost in sugar intake may actually put us into sleepiness.*

It is well established that a large meal, such as at Thanksgiving, can cause overeaters to fall asleep even over the blare of boring televised football games and clacking relatives. But, maybe we should not blame the turkey hormones for our drowsiness.

A new study in London shows that sugar promotes sleep instead of alertness. In the study, glucose was injected into the brains of mice. Certain nerve cells in mouse brains are sleep inducers. (I wonder if other cells are cheese graving producers). At any rate, the study shows that the glucose stimulated the sleep causing cells, and the mice promptly nodded off for a deep sleep. Indeed, the more the neurons detected sweetness, the stronger the resulting sleep.

According to the report, human sleep causing neurons appear to be similar to those of mice. One wonders, then, what to make of the quote from Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men": "Trouble with mice is you always kill 'em." If the cells of mice and men are similar, then a similar reaction to sugar may be expected appears to be the conclusion.

So, perhaps Mary Poppins was correct when she asserted that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. In this case, a spoonful of sugar also helps the eyelids go down. Pardon me, while a reach for a piece of candyyyyyy......ZZZZZZZZZ.

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* Sanders, "Sugar May Put You to Sleep, Science News,
August 8, 2015, p. 15

PLUTONIC RELATIONS

Planet or dwarf planet, or round blob of ice, or whatever--Pluto attracted a great deal of attention this summer when photos of it and its moon captured by NASA's space probe hit the media. They briefly replaced reruns of old sitcoms.

The pictures are said to reveal mountains of frozen water. Some have speculated that water is gushing below the mountains. Indeed, one project leader was quoted as saying that water exists in great abundance.

A question comes to mind: how did all that water arrive on Pluto? Recently, published reports have stated that the Earth's water came from bombardments of asteroids. However, photos of Pluto and its moon Charon appear to suggest crusts free of impact craters.

Will water on Pluto be harvested for the benefit of earthlings? Will large space tankers haul ice and water back to Earth? I suppose this is unlikely, if it takes 9 years over 3 million miles to go one way. On the other hand, harvested ice certainly will arrive melted after such travel.

But wait...there already is Pluto Water on Earth. "Pluto Water" was bottled spring water from French Lick, Indiana. It was available and sold from the early 20th Century until 1971 when its lithium content caused it to be labeled as a controlled substance. Pluto Water was famous for being a strong laxative due to its mineral salts. Claims were made that it was "effective" from a half hour to two hours after ingestion. Accordingly, one supposes that it quenched several needs.

Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld. Pluto also was a dog--the pet dog of Mickey Mouse. Both Pluto, the alleged planet, and Pluto, the alleged canine, were discovered in 1930. The assumption is that the alleged planet came first. Pluto, the dog, who is naked, of course should not be confused with Goofy, the dog, who tends to be clothed and also associated with Mickey Mouse and friends. Pluto is not Goofy.

Pluto, the round ball in outer space, is an unlikely destination for weddings or retirees in the near future. However, in addition to its water sources, it does offer the attractive benefit that global warming is not likely there. This should please scientists who may consider going there. It also is unlikely that any of us will drink Pluto Water anytime soon. So, while photos of Pluto's ice mountains were interesting, the only Pluto likely to cross our paths is Pluto, the dog. Beam me up, Pluto!